Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon

Research Interests

Dr. Nielsen-Gammon’s weather-related work involves jet streams, extreme rainfall events, and land and sea breezes.  His air quality research includes field forecasting support, numerical simulation, and diagnostic analysis of ozone events in Houston and Dallas for the Texas Air Quality Studies in 2000 and 2005-6.  Dr. Nielsen-Gammon has also worked on drought monitoring and forecasting, air pollution climatology, and improvements to the climate data record.  He teaches courses in weather analysis, weather forecasting, climatology, and atmospheric dynamics.

Dr. Nielsen-Gammon received a Presidential Faculty Fellow award (now known as PECASE) from the National Science Foundation and the White House in 1996, a Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching at Texas A&M University from the Association of Former Students in 1996, and was named a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) in 2011.  He is Past President of the International Commission for Dynamical Meteorology and is past chair of the AMS Board on Higher Education.

Selected Publications

• (see curriculum vitae for listing of publications since 2008)
• Nielsen-Gammon, J. W., and D. A. Gold, 2008: Dynamical diagnosis: a comparison of quasigeostrophy and Ertel potential vorticity. Sanders Memorial Volume, in press.
• Gold, D. A., and J. W. Nielsen-Gammon, 2008: Potential vorticity diagnosis of the severe convective regime. Part IV: Comparison with numerical simulations of the 1999 Oklahoma outbreak. Mon. Wea. Rev., 136, 1612-1629.
• Gold, D. A., and J. W. Nielsen-Gammon, 2008: Potential vorticity diagnosis of the severe convective regime. Part III: The Hesston tornado outbreak. Mon. Wea. Rev., 136, 1593-1611.
• Nielsen-Gammon, J. W., and D. A. Gold, 2008: Potential vorticity diagnosis of the severe convective regime. Part II: The impact of idealized anomalies. Mon. Wea. Rev., 136, 1582-1592.
• Gold, D. A., and J. W. Nielsen-Gammon, 2008: Potential vorticity diagnosis of the severe convective regime. Part I: Methodology. Mon. Wea. Rev., 136, 1565-1581.
• Nielsen-Gammon, J. W., C. L. Powell, M. J. Mahoney, W. Angevine, C. Senff, A. White, C. Berkowitz, C. Doran, and K. Knupp, 2007: Multi-sensor estimation of mixing heights over a coastal city. J. Appl. Meteor. Clim., 47, 27-43.
• Nielsen-Gammon, J. W., and *D. A. Gold, 2008: Potential vorticity diagnosis in the quasigeostrophic and nonlinear balance systems. J. Atmos. Sci., 65, 172-188.
• Nielsen-Gammon, J. W., 2007: An Inconvenient Truth: The scientific argument. GeoJournal, 70, 21-26, doi:10.1007/s10708-008-9126-z.
• Pielke Sr., R., C. Davey, D. Niyogi, S. Fall, J. Steinweg-Woods, K. Hubbard, X. Lin, M. Cai, Y.-K. Lim, H. Li, J. Nielsen-Gammon, K. Gallo, R. Hale, J. Angel, R. Mahmood, S. Foster, R. T. McNider, and P. Blanken, 2007: Unresolved issues with the assessment of multidecadal global land surface temperature trends. J. Geophys. Res., 112, D24S08, doi:10.1029/2006JD008229.
• Pielke Sr., R., J. Nielsen-Gammon, C. Davey, J. Angel, O. Bliss, N. Doesken, M. Cai, S. Fall, D. Niyogi, K. Gallo, R. Hale, K. G. Hubbard, X. Lin, H. Li, and S. Raman, 2007: Documentation of uncertainties and bias associated with surface temperature measurement sites for climate change assessment. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 88, 913-928.
• Nielsen-Gammon, J. W., R. T. McNider, W. M. Angevine, A. B. White, and K. Knupp, 2007: Mesoscale model performance with assimilation of wind profiler data: Sensitivity to assimilation parameters and network configuration. J. Geophys. Res., 112, D09119, doi:10.1029/2006JD007633.
• Stuart, A. L., A. Aksoy, F. Zhang, and J. W. Nielsen-Gammon, 2007: Ensemble-based data assimilation and targeted observation of a chemical tracer in a sea breeze model. Atmos. Env., 41, 3082-3094.
• Zhang, F., N. Bei, J. W. Nielsen-Gammon, G. Li, R. Zhang, A. Stuart, and A. Aksoy, 2007: Impacts of meteorological uncertainties on ozone pollution predictability estimated through meteorological and photochemical ensemble forecasts. J. Geophys. Res., 112, D04304, doi:10.1029/2006JD007429.
• Aksoy, A., F. Zhang, and J. W. Nielsen-Gammon, 2006: Ensemble-based simultaneous state and parameter estimation in a two-dimensional sea breeze model. Mon. Wea. Rev.,, 134, 2951-2970.
• Aksoy, A., F. Zhang, and J. W. Nielsen-Gammon, 2006: Ensemble-based simultaneous state and parameter estimation with MM5. Geophys. Res. Let., 33, L12801, doi:10.1029/2006GL026186.
• Sippel, J. A., J. W. Nielsen-Gammon, and S. E. Allen, 2006: The multiple vortex nature of tropical cyclogenesis. Mon. Wea. Rev.,, 134, 1796-1814.
• Zhang, F., A. Odins, and J. W. Nielsen-Gammon, 2006: Mesoscale predictability of an extreme warm-season precipitation event. Wea. Forecasting, 21, 149-166.
• Nielsen-Gammon, J. W., F. Zhang, A. M. Odins, and B. Myoung, 2005: Extreme rainfall in Texas: Patterns and predictability. Phys. Geog., 26,340-364
• Fan, J., R. Zhang, G. Li, J. Nielsen-Gammon, and Z. Li, 2005: Simulations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Houston, Texas. J. Geophys. Res., 110, D16203, doi:10.1029/2005JD005805.
• Aksoy, A., F. Zhang, J. W. Nielsen-Gammon, and C. C. Epifanio, 2005: Ensemble-based data assimilation for thermally forced circulations. J. Geophys. Res., 110, D16105, doi:10.1029/2004JD005718.
• Banta, R. M., C. J. Senff, J. W. Nielsen-Gammon, T. B. Ryerson, L. S. Darby, R. J. Alvarez, S. P. Sandberg, E. J. Williams, and M. Trainer, 2005: A bad air day in Houston. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 86, 657-669.
• Orville, R. E., G. R. Huffines, J. Nielsen-Gammon, R. Zhang, B. Ely, S. Steiger, S. Phillips, S. Allen, and W. Read, 2001: Enhancement of cloud-to-ground lightning over Houston, Texas. Geophys. Res. Lett., 28, 2597-2600.
• Nielsen-Gammon, J. W., 2001: A visualization of the global dynamic tropopause.   Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 82, 1151-1168.
• Wandishin, M. S., J. W. Nielsen-Gammon, and D. Keyser, 2000: A potential vorticity diagnostic approach to upper-level frontogenesis within a developing baroclinic wave. J. Atmos. Sci., 57, 3918-3938.
• Nielsen-Gammon, J. W., and D. Keyser, 2000: Effective stratification for pseudoadiabatic ascent. Mon. Wea. Rev., 128, 3007-3010.
• Igau, R. C., and J. W. Nielsen-Gammon, 1998: Low-level jet development during a numerically simulated return flow event. Mon. Wea. Rev., 126, 2972-2990.
• Morgan, M. C., and J. W. Nielsen-Gammon, 1998: Using tropopause maps to diagnose midlatitude weather systems. Mon. Wea. Rev., 126, 2555-2579.
• Nielsen-Gammon, J. W., M. I. Biggerstaff, M. E. Alcorn, D. Austin, K. P. Bowman, D. Djuric, J. Guynes, R. L. Panetta, R. White, and L. J. Wicker, 1996: Texas A&M University's Laboratory for the Exploration of Atmospheric Processes - TAMU's LEAP. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 77, 2907-2918.
• Nielsen-Gammon, J. W., and R. J. Lefevre, 1996: Piecewise tendency diagnosis of dynamical processes governing the development of an upper-tropospheric mobile trough. J. Atmos. Sci., 53, 3120-3142.
• Livingston, E. S., J. W. Nielsen-Gammon, and R. E. Orville, 1996: A climatology, synoptic assessment, and thermodynamic evaluation for cloud-to-ground lightning in Georgia: A study for the 1996 Summer Olympics. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 77, 1483-1495.
• Nielsen-Gammon, J. W., 1995: Dynamic conceptual models of upper-level mobile trough formation: comparison and application. Tellus, 47A, 705-721.
• Lefevre, R. J., and J. W. Nielsen-Gammon, 1995: An objective climatology of mobile troughs in the Northern Hemisphere. Tellus, 47A, 638-655.
• Nielsen-Gammon, J. W., and W. Read, 1995: Detection and interpretation of left-moving severe thunderstorms using the WSR-88D: A case study. Wea. Forecasting, 10, 127-140.
• Bosart, L. F., and J. W. Nielsen, 1993: Radiosonde penetration of an undilute cumulonimbus anvil. Mon. Wea. Rev., 121, 1688-1702.
• Nielsen, J. W., and R. M. Dole, 1992: A survey of extratropical cyclone characteristics during GALE. Mon. Wea. Rev., 120, 1156-1167.
• Nielsen, J. W., 1992: In situ observations of Kelvin-Helmholtz waves along a frontal inversion. J. Atmos. Sci., 49, 369-386.
• Nielsen, J. W., and P. P. Neilley, 1990: The vertical structure of New England coastal fronts Mon. Wea. Rev., 118 1793-1807.
• Nielsen, J.W., 1989: The formation of New England coastal fronts. Mon. Wea. Rev., 117, 1380-1401.